Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen description

Dear Evan Hansen – A Tony-winning contemporary heart-warmer

The 71st Tony Awards in 2017 saw this brilliant musical nominated for nine awards and winning six, including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Actor in a Musical for Platt, and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Rachel Bay Jones. It won a 2018 Grammy Award, and the critics went wild. So did audiences over the Atlantic, both on Broadway and off.

Now Dear Evan Hansen, a musical you won't forget in a hurry, is due in the West End, playing at the Noel Coward theatre during 2019.

So what's the plot? Young Evan Hansen doesn't fit in. He tries his best but he's a rank outsider and he's beginning to think he always will be. He finds socialising painful, he's shy and reserved, but when one of his classmates dies, things change.

What happens when a letter that was never meant to be seen, is seen? What goes on when a lie that was never meant to be told, gets told? And what occurs when a life someone never dreamed they could have falls into their lap like magic? When Evan Hansen is finally given the opportunity to fit in, the resulting story is deeply personal, a modern masterpiece that sees the dead boy's family coming closer. And Evan himself eventually experiences the feeling of purpose he's been missing.

Dear Evan Hansen has music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. It premiered at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C during 2015. There was there was an Off-Broadway production in spring 2016 and it appeared on Broadway itself, at the Music Box Theatre, in late 2016. The book comes from Steven Levenson.

The musical gathered great critical acclaim in the USA and it, the book and Ben Platt's US performance have all created positive conversations around storytelling in musical theatre, discussing the vital themes of mental illness and young male suicide.

This unusual, wholly contemporary musical has influenced countless thousands of theatregoers. The New York Times called it “a gut-punching, breathtaking knockout of a musical.” USA's NBC Nightly News calls it, “an anthem resonating on Broadway and beyond.” Time Magazine says “This heart-scorching musical about the struggle to connect feels like a hallmark of this particular moment in history. It’s an old-school interactive experience in which you show up in person and sit very close to whomever you came with. It’s a visceral exchange, one that feels primal and rare.”

Last but far from least, the Washington Post nails it by calling the show “One of the most remarkable shows in musical theater history.” It is indeed, so don't miss out on the chance to see it, to sing along, to feel the love, empathise with the pain, and glory in the outcome. If you're aged 12 or over you're going to love it.